4B=THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
NCAA FINALFOUR
TUESDAY,APRIL2,2002
Summit House Apartments
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Kentucky Place Apartments
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TANGLEWOOD APARTMENTS
951 Arkansas (785) 749-2415
Now leasing for August 2002! Completely furnished and unfurnished Studios, 1and 2 Bedroom apartment homes.
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Hanover Place Apartments
Now Pre-Leasing for Fall 2002!
- Fully applianced kitchen w/microwave
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The Associated Press
ATLANTA- It's hard to imagine, but there was a time when the NCAA tournament wasn't that big a deal, a time when they didn't even bother gathering the final four teams in one place for the semifinals and championship game.
Kansas victory marked first Final Four tournament
The tournament was a more modest endeavor, eight teams at first, operated almost as an afterthought to the more glitzy NIT, which had all its games in New York's Madison Square Garden.
In 1951, the field doubled to 16 teams, and the next year it occurred to the NCAA that it might be a good idea to have
Fifty years later, the event has become a centerpiece of the sports year. The foundation was established in 1952 at the University of Washington's Edmundson Pavilion, where St. John's, Illinois, Kansas and Santa Clara gathered for the first Final Four.
four regions, with the winners advancing to the same city for a grand climax.
Instead, Zawoluk scored 24 points and St. John's edged Illinois 61-59. Now it was on to the championship game against Kansas.
The layhawks' road to the title began in Kansas City, with victories over Texas Christian, 68-64, and St. Louis, 74-55. Lovellette, who had averaged 28.4 points per game that season, set a tournament record with 44 points against the Billikens and began thinking again of Allen's recruiting promise.
In the semifinals, Kansas faced Santa Clara, which had defeated UCLA 68-59 and Wyoming 56-53. The night before the game, Lovellette was invited by a friend to dine on a Coast Guard cutter anchored in Puget Sound. When a dense fog set in, he was unable to return to shore until the next morning.
Now it would be St. John's and Kansas with the national championship at stake, the game billed as the city slickers against the country boys.
Again, Lovellette dominated inside with 33 points and 17 rebounds, and Kansas won the championship, 80-63. The Jayhawks' big man became the only player to ever lead the nation in scoring and go on to win the NCAA title in the same year.
Lovellette was hardly disturbed. He scored 33 points and the Jayhawks prevailed, again by 74-55.
Within days, Lovellette and seven Kansas teammates were chosen for the United States Olympic team that would win the gold medal at Helsinki, Finland.
frightened McGuire, who thought St. John's would be overmatched in the semifinal.
That was a more primitive time in college basketball. No shot clock. No 5-point shot. Narrow lanes. Perfect for a big man like 6-foot-9 Clyde Lovellette of Kansas.
When Hall of Fame coach Phog Allen recruited Lovellette, his pitch was simple. He promised a national championship and a trip to the Olympics by the big man's senior year.
Allen's recruiting pitch had come true.
During the regular season. St. John's had played at Kentucky. It should have been no big deal except coach Frank McGuire's team included the school's
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Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp called McGuire and asked him to leave Walker at home. McGuire would have none of that. When St. John's arrived in Lexington, Ky., Walker was with the team. Fully aware of the racial climate, he maintained a low profile.
first black player. Solly Walker.
Kentucky ripped St. John's 81-40. "It was one of those games when we hit rock bottom," Walker said. "It wasn't what they were doing, it was what we were doing. No one was able to put the ball in the basket."
Again, the atmosphere was antagonistic. When their train reached town, Walker was barred from dining with the team, so McGuire ate with him in the kitchen. The players, angered by the slight, played inspired basketball, defeating North Carolina State on its home court 60-49. Kentucky, meanwhile walloped Penn State 82-54. McGuire would get his chance to get even.
McGuire swore that if the teams met again, the result would be reversed.
Sure enough, when the 1952 NCAA tournament field was announced, Kentucky and St. John's were in the same bracket, assigned to play in Raleigh, N.C. It would be another trip south for McGuire and Walker.
At halftime, St. John's led by six points and McGuire's team listened intently as, next door, Rupp screamed at his Kentucky team. The tirade did no good. St. John's got 32 points by Bob 'Zeke' Zawoluk and won. 64-57.
That sent McGuire's team west with a stopover in Chicago, where Illinois and Kansas both boarded the same plane. Illinois had beaten Dayton 80-61 and Duquesne 74-68, and their size
The Associated Press
but they won 31 games, and accomplished the rare achievement of pushing spring football to the back of the sports page. (By the way, kickoff is only 153 days away).
Led by undersized shooting guard Hollis Price, his high school teammate Quannas White at the point and a slew of junior-college transfers from all over the map, coach Kelvin Sampson's team came close to making history.
Oklahoma out sooner than hoped
ATLANTA - At Oklahoma, a school that treasures all things football, the basketball team proved itself to be much more than a diversion this season.
They won the Big 12 conference tournament. They made the Final Four for the first time since 1988. They came short of winning their first national title,
"When Coach Sampson recruited me, he had this vision," forward Aaron McGhee said. "This was the goal of ours all year long. To finally get here, it was great playing in a Final Four."
mcGhee is the quintessential Sooner. He played one season at Cincinnati before transferring so he could get more
That's life for the Sooners, and somehow Sampson melded a big-time winner out of a roster that's always in flux.
playing time. After a stop at Vincennes Junior College in Indiana, he made his way to Oklahoma, where he played two productive seasons. Now, he must move on.
And, really, there's no underestimating this year's accomplishments. The core of this team — almost all of them looking for a second chance for one reason or another — had never played together until they met for the first practice last October. In a very short time, they accepted Sampson's demanding regimen and got used to each other in time to become a winner.
The coach disputed the notion that something must be wrong with a lineup that includes six JUCO transfer players
"I figure the top programs are only going to get the top high school players for two years, at the most," Sampson said. "I get these JUCO guys for two years. So, what's the difference?"
— basically, every major contributor to the team besides Price.
Still, Sampson conceded he would like to have more of a high school presence in his program. He has a letter of intent from high school star De'Angelo Alexander and received an oral commitment from another, Kevin Bookout.
If they enroll, they'll return along with starters Price, White, Ebi Ere and Jabahri Brown. It's a good core that should compete in the Big 12 next season and be a good bet to make the NCAA tournament for the ninth straight year.
That probably still won't be enough to fill the Noble Center for every game. At a school where football tickets are hard to come by, the Sooners sold out only three hoops games this season.
But Price claimed he was the most-recognizable face on campus this spring as the Sooners made their surprising run to the Final Four, where they lost 73-64 to Indiana on Saturday night.
Indeed, not many people thought this season's team would make it that far. But the Sooners got on a roll. They were a popular pick to defeat the Hoosiers, and because they had already beaten Maryland and Kansas earlier this season, they figured this might be their year.
The quest fell one game and two victories short.
"The finality of it just reaches up and slaps you," Sampson said. "You build and you build and you build. All of a sudden it's over. We really planned to play the next game. We were looking forward to cutting some nets down."
Huskies' hunt for men's coach shifts and turns
The Associated Press
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri men's basketball coach Quin Snyder, sought by the University of Washington for its vacancy, said late Sunday he instead planned to remain with the Tigers next season.
"We have some very special players on our team, and we have made a tremendous investment in each other over the last few years," Snyder said in a statement. "We are building a very special and unique program at Missouri, and I am certainly excited about the potential that lies ahead."
The school said that Snyder would not make any additional comments until tomorrow. Calls to Missouri's sports
information director, Chad Moller, were not returned Sunday night.
Washington is looking for a coach to replace Bob Bender, who was asked to resign last week after three consecutive losing seasons.
Snyder, who has guided the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in each of his first three seasons and to the Elite Eight this year, was considered a prime candidate
for the position primarily because of strong personal ties to Seattle. He is a native of the Seattle suburb of Mercer Island and still has family in the area.
Washington athletic director Barbara Hedges has not commented publicly on her search for a new coach but has received permission to talk with Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Saint Louis coach Lorenzo Romar, who played for the Huskies.
Jim Daves, the assistant athletic director for media relations at Washington, said Sunday night that Hedges would not have any comment until she announced the Huskies' next coach.
Several reports over the weekend said Hedges met with Snyder on Friday in Sun Valley, Idaho, where Snyder and his wife, Helen, were on vacation. Reports also said that Snyder was offered the job, a point Daves corrected Sunday.
"We have not offered our job to anyone," Daves said.
Doug McIlhagga, a spokesman for Saint Louis University, said the school understood that Romar and Hedges were to meet Sunday.
"Considering coach Romar's positive feelings about the future of the team, we're hoping he continues to be the coach at Saint Louis University," McIlhagga said.
In three seasons since replacing Norm Stewart at Missouri, Snyder is 62-38. Missouri went 24-12 this season, losing to Oklahoma 81-75 in the West Regional finals of the NCAA Tournament.
Last year Snyder signed a two-year extension to his original deal with the school, placing him under contract at Missouri through the 2005-2006 season. His base salary is $185,000 annually, but the contract includes incentives and other compensation that can push the total to more than $1 million.